


It's a Birdmen Thing

by caecias



Category: BIRDMEN - 田辺イエロウ | Tanabe Yellow
Genre: Bird Club - Freeform, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-01 23:11:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8641969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caecias/pseuds/caecias
Summary: Don't let Eishi navigate.Day 4 of Birdmen Week: City





	

“We’re not lost, okay.” Eishi glances down at his phone, eyeing the map of New York City he’s secretly pulled up. 

“We've passed that statue three times now,” Sagisawa points out, a grin tugging at his lips. Eishi wants to throttle him.

It's strange--Eishi swears he's taken the correct path, and yet, like Sagisawa said, they've passed that statue of one of those Colonial America guys three times already. It shouldn't be possible; the route on the map is practically straight, yet here he is, utterly lost and thoroughly confused.

“I'm, uh,” Eishi’s gaze shifts to the giant billboard, emblazoned with a half-naked woman holding a GPS--America is so goddamn weird, Eishi thinks-- “triangulating. I'm pinning down the final destination with absolute precision.”

“I can fly up and help from above,” Takayama offers.

 **Don’t.**

Eishi shoots Takayama a withering glare. The other bird kids shiver, clearly unsettled, and he realizes that he must’ve used his “death tweet.” Oops. He must be more on edge than he thought. “Anyways, I'm not lost, so I don’t need any help.”

“You have a map up on your phone,” Tsubame says, peering at his screen and _entirely_ too close. Eishi flings his phone away from her, watches it slip from his grasp and fly away with a dreadful clarity. Kamoda springs up and catches it neatly, and bows when Takayama starts to clap. Eishi glares at them both.

“Also, you’re lying,” Sagisawa adds, like the _completely unhelpful jerk_ he is. “You seem to forget I can do that, you know.”

“Sagisawa, be a good friend and keep it to yourself,” Eishi mutters, and Sagisawa lifts his head back and laughs. “That’s not a good friend action eith-- _Takayama what are you doing._ ”

Takayama’s jacket is on the ground, and he’s reaching for the hem of his shirt. Eishi shoots over to Takayama, grabs his wrists and forces them _down_ , staring him straight in the eyes. 

“Let me repeat that again,” Eishi hisses. “ _What are you doing._ ”

**You’re lost.**

“So I figured I should fly around,” Takayama clarifies, after seeing the blank expression on their faces. Eishi sighs and releases his wrists.

“We're in public, Takayama.”

“Does it really matter if they see us?” Umino asks, shrugging. “They're New Yorkers, they've seen some strange stuff before. Including another Birdman.”

“Or,” Eishi emphasizes, “We could ask one of them for directions. Like normal, non-Birdmen people.”

“So you are lost,” Kamoda breaks in, and Sagisawa starts guffawing again. Eishi pinches at the bridge of his nose. 

“Yes, fine. I'm lost. Let's just find someone to ask for directions.”

Umino’s hand rockets into the air. “I've got it!” She bounds over to--of course, Eishi murmurs--the strangest individual on the street. He's, or at least, Eishi thinks it's a guy, facing a blank wall, unmoving, wearing an oversized, wide-brimmed hat and what looks like three different coats.

“Excuse me,” Umino fumbles out in badly accented English. “Um.”

The stranger startles, and turns around. Even with the distance, and the huge shades covering his face, Eishi can tell that the guy’s actually pretty young--they're probably around the same age, he guesses.

“Hey!” Umino shouts loudly, reverting back to Japanese. “You’re the New York Birdman!”

She grabs his hands, and instantly Eishi feels something electricity rocket through his palms, snaking up through his arms and throughout his body. It settles after a few seconds, but the buzz lingers, leaving him weirdly jittery and alert.

The stranger yanks his hands free of Umino’s. The sunglasses make it hard to tell, but Eishi’s pretty certain that he’s just as unsettled as he is. 

“What the hell was that?” the stranger mutters, barely audible over the bystanders’ loud English. Eishi catches them say ‘Birdman’ more than once.

In a split-second decision, Eishi grabs the guy by his arm and drags him off into the closest store.

“Ei-chan, what are you doing?” Kamoda calls out after him, incredulously. Eishi ignores him, doggedly pulling the stranger past racks of unfashionable clothing. When they reach an area that Eishi deems isolated enough, he stops, and releases his grip.

“Who are you?” the stranger demands, removing his shades and eyeing the Bird Club with visible apprehension. 

Now that the sunglasses are gone, and he can see bits of blond hair sticking out from underneath the brim of the hat, Eishi realizes that Umino was right--he is the New York Birdman.

“That's pretty fluent Japanese for a foreigner,” Sagisawa remarks. “To be completely honest, I didn't think that that he knew the language at all.”

“I don't.” the Birdman interjects. “Why would I need to know it?”

A long silence passes before Kamoda speaks up, eyebrows furrowed.

“But you're speaking it right now?”

“What are you talking about? I’m speaking English?”

It's _strange_ , Eishi thinks. There's clearly a discrepancy in languages, and yet they're still able to communicate. How?

“Maybe it's a Birdman thing!” Umino pipes up. The Birdman shoots her a baleful glare.

“I never said I was the Birdman.”

“Dude, you were all over the media for ages. You're clearly the Birdman,” Umino retorts.

“But that could be right,” Eishi muses. “Hey, Takayama, do you know?”

Takayama shrugs. “I've never met a Birdman who didn't speak Japanese.”

The Birdman’s eyes grow to the size of saucers. “You guys have met the Japanese Birdmen?” he whispers, near reverentially.

The Bird Club exchanges glances, and Eishi quickly realizes that the others expect _him_ to let the cat out of the bag.

“ _We_ are the Japanese Birdmen,” he admits, hesitantly.

Immediately he’s engulfed in a bone-crushing hug, knocking the breath out of him. 

“What the hell?” Eishi wheezes. To his utter embarrassment, he can feel his face heating up-- _the little traitor_. “What are you doing?” His face is smushed against someone’s chest, fortunately hiding his blush, and judging from how squishy it is, Eishi assumes that it's the New York Birdman with his many coats.

“I'm so glad I got to meet another Birdman,” he says, keeping Eishi solidly trapped between his arms. “Eden wouldn't let me meet another one.”

At the mention of Eden Eishi stiffens, which the Birdman thankfully takes as a signal to let go.

“Oh, I'm Arthur, by the way,” he says extending his hand. “Um, nice to meet you!”

Eishi accepts the handshake uncertainly--he's not used to how forward Americans can be--and Arthur lays his other hand on top, shaking them so hard Eishi’s brain rattles.

“I'm, um, Karasuma Eishi. Nice to meet you too?” Eishi feels very conscious of Arthur’s hands on his, the other Bird Club members, and that stubborn blush that he's desperately willing away.

He doesn't get any time to dwell over it, though, as Arthur’s splits wide open in a huge grin.

“Eishi, huh. What a cool name!”

And then he spins on his heels, greeting every member of the Bird Club in like manner. Eishi gapes at him, at his blatant use of his given name. Sagisawa comes up behind him and pats him on the back.

“That’s America for you,” he says, cheerfully. Eishi murders Sagisawa with his eyes.

“Anyways,” Arthur breaks back in, “why can we understand each other? From what you guys’ve said, it sounds like I’m speaking in Japanese, but to me, it sounds like you’re speaking English. What do you mean by it might be a Birdmen thing?”

Eishi pauses. “An evolutionary skill,” he mumbles, “...Birdmen are scattered and few in number, so maybe we possess some sort of auto-translate ability?” Eishi recalls that lightning moment when Umino grabbed his hands, and of when they first grew their wings. “Maybe it’s touch-initiated.”

“Ooooh, that explains that weird lightning-thingy I felt,” Arthur says, rubbing at his wrists. “Also, why’re you guys even here? Coming all the way from Japan seems unusual.”

“That's because of me!” Umino chirps. “I won a trip to New York City for four from a marketplace drawing! Rei bought the tickets for the rest of the Bird Club, but he couldn't get Marilyn and and Tatsume on the same flight. So we're meeting at the hotel!”

“Bird Club?” Arthur asks. “And who’s Marilyn and Tatsume? Are they also Birdmen?”

“We call ourselves the Bird Club. I'm the president,” Sagisawa explains. He points at Eishi. “Karasuma’s the vice president. He does stuff like keeping a record of our abilities, and getting lost in cities.”

“Hey!” Eishi snaps. “I'm not lost, okay?”

“But you said you were lost earlier,” Kamoda says, still giggling from Sagisawa’s jibe. Arthur perks up. 

“You're lost? I can help you out! I want to meet Marilyn and Tatsume too! Oh yeah, and who are they?”

“They're our advisors,” Eishi answers. “Tatsume is a professor of biology, and Marilyn was his lab assistant. Neither of them are Birdmen, though, even if Tatsume really wants to be one.”

“So where are they staying?”

Eishi reads him the address.

“Oh, there? But that's only a few blocks away from here? How could you get lost?” 

Oh, great. Arthur’s barely known them for five minutes and he's already teasing Eishi. Perfect.

“Let me show you how to get there!” Arthur bounds to the front of the store.

 **I think you’re forgetting your disguise** , Takayama reminds. Arthur jumps at the tweet. 

“How’d you do that?” he wonders.

 **It's called tweeting** , Sagisawa replies. **It takes some practice**. Kamoda nods emphatically in agreement. 

“So cool,” Arthur breathes, before rearranging his hat and replacing his sunglasses. “I wanna do that too. Okay, now I'm ready. Let's go!”

The Bird Club follows Arthur as he walks through the city, weaving past other pedestrians. It doesn't even take ten minutes before they're standing in front of the hotel.

“Wow, Karasuma,” Sagisawa remarks. “Now I'm kind of impressed. How _did_ you get lost so easily?”

“You tell me,” Eishi mutters. “I _swear_ I took this route. It doesn't make any sense.”

“Maybe it's a Birdmen thing,” Arthur suggests, jokingly. “You know, like some evolutionary trait brought you to me so I can join your group.”

“You want to join the Bird Club?” Kamoda asks.

Arthur droops. “I can't?”

“Of course you can,” Umino says, slapping Arthur on the back with enough force that Eishi winces.

It works, though, and Arthur’s beaming now, eyes lighting up behind his sunglasses. 

Takayama walks up to Arthur, looks him straight in the eye, and takes his hand.

**Welcome.**

**Author's Note:**

> this was fun to write


End file.
